Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 7:21 pm Post subject: Google! What the hell has that got to do with ITIL?

Good Morning Fellow People,

I have been undertaking the regular Friday morning duty of swarming through the press and I must say...the birth and growth of Google has been absolutely phenomenal to say the least.

This week they have presented to the world their attack on Microsoft, including their internet browser (chrome) and no doubt their ambitions to develop an operating system.

I was just sitting here thinking about googles success. I wonder if they have adopted ITIL. Many may argue their success is due to being lucky (with their search engine), whilst being in the right place at the right time...

Imagine Google introduced "Google Business Framework". It would wipe out MOF and many of ITIL's best practice guidelines in moments although I do understand the governance aspect of ITIL. Not knocking it folks, but just wanted to say my thoughts out loud.

Before I get grilled, I know this is an ITIL forum but that doesn't mean we can't share our thoughts and opinions on current affairs that affect what is at the end of the day, Our Industry...

(By the way, are you flooding in France too? - technically England one the Hundred Years War, but I always thought you got the better end of the deal!).

Does anyone know whether Google or similar forward looking software houses use ITIL?

And as to whether they will come out with their own MOF type thing, well that is possible (albeit with huge overlap) because web based services - SAAS approaches may work outside of the traditional boundaries of hard infrastructures, local apps and licencing etc..

I think Google would have its work cut out for it to threaten ITIL's share in the marketplace of ideas. For two reasons...

1) ITIL is a philosophy, not a specific way of doing things. ITIL has the benefit of decades of development. People have been pondering exactly what works and what doesn't for a long... long time. I think it would be like Google coming out with "a better spoon". Sure some people might switch over just for an affinity to Google. But many would also realize that the spoon is pretty much plateaued in efficiency gains, and could see through the hype.

2) Time & money. Consider JUST the time it takes a company to get serious about ITIL. You need champions. You need training. You need to garner acceptance. Then you need to design processes. You basically have to create an ITIL culture. Changing work culture (even for the better) is like herding cats - you need a lot of tallented people to direc the motion of creatures that will hiss and claw at you the whole time you drive them to a better place.

I have worked in an organisation which is desperately trying to teach it's people the basis of working alongside ITIL guidelines. However, there are two huge barriers in such a challenge:

a) People understanding the ITIL guidelines (to any extent) and knowing how they can be applied in the workplace. This can sometimes be difficult but nothing some training courses and consultancy can't overcome...

However, the bigger and harder hurdle is:

b) Cultural change. Implementing ITIL aligned practices is asking people to change, and change is what often upsets people. Subsequently, they may feel content seeing their organisation suffer so as long their bums remain warm in their complacent seat moulded around their buttocks.

Going back to the subject, I think the newer businesses like Google, Ebay and Amazon must be adopting these slick practices, but (I don't mean to cause offence here), with their average employee age being lower and no such "tradition" in their organisations, they're able to adopt rather have to adapt like the older players...which is a complete paradigm shift in itself.

While it does exist, the correlation between age and resistance to change is no where as strong as its press.

The problem is that it gets muddled with the correlation between experience and resistance to ill-considered change. I have even seen change proposals that seemed designed to reinforce the very inadequacies they claimed to be combating.

Change is inevitable, and experienced people are acutely aware of that, probably more so than young people. However, change that is not improvement is a waste of time and resources (except for politicians).

Yes I have seen people set in their ways resist all attempts at improvement, but I have also seen young "techies" do everything in their considerable power to avoid being tied to rules and procedures on the grounds that just diving in and sorting things is what they do best.

By the way, I am very young, if you are worried I might have a bias._________________"Method goes far to prevent trouble in business: for it makes the task easy, hinders confusion, saves abundance of time, and instructs those that have business depending, both what to do and what to hope."
William Penn 1644-1718

I lied about my age _________________"Method goes far to prevent trouble in business: for it makes the task easy, hinders confusion, saves abundance of time, and instructs those that have business depending, both what to do and what to hope."
William Penn 1644-1718